12. EARTHQUAKE (1974)
Directed by Mark Robson. Written by George Fox and Mario Puzo. Starring Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Genevieve Bujold, Richard Roundtree.
12. EARTHQUAKE (1974)
Directed by Mark Robson. Written by George Fox and Mario Puzo. Starring Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Genevieve Bujold, Richard Roundtree.
12. EARTHQUAKE (1974)
Directed by Jack Smight. Written by Donald S. Sanford. Starring Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Roberton, Robert Wagner, Edward Albert, Christina Kokubo.
Heston teams up with Henry Fonda for this stirring dramatization of the Battle of Midway, a major turning point in the fight for the Pacific during WWII. The film is at its best when focusing on its impressive battle sequences, aided by some stock war footage and stirring sound work (it was released in the now obsolete Sensurround). It falters, however, in its love story between Ensign Garth (Edward Albert), son of Navy Captain Matt Garth (Heston), and Haruko Sakura (Christina Kokubo), a Japanese girl living in Hawaii. Fonda, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, and Toshiro Mifune embody the real-life admirals present during the harrowing fight.
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett, Barre Lyndon. Starring Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, James Stewart, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, Lyle Bettger.
A huge success in its time, this big top melodrama from Cecil B. DeMille now regularly ranks among the worst Best Picture winners of all time. But by God, it’s still hokey, soapy fun, with Heston as the circus manager, Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as the dueling trapeze artists, and James Stewart as the clown with a dark secret. It all ends with a spectacular train crash. Even in 1952, it’s Oscar victory over heavy favorites “High Noon” and “The Quiet Man” was a stunning upset; its only other trophy came in the now-defunct Best Motion Picture Story category.
Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett, Robert Wilder, based on the serialized novel ‘Ambush at Blanco Canyon’ by Donald Hamilton. Starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Chuck Connors.
William Wyler’s Technicolor epic stars Gregory Peck as a New England sea captain who travels west to marry a rancher’s daughter (Carroll Baker), and soon becomes embroiled in a land feud between two families. Heston costars as Steve Leech, the feisty, fiercely loyal foreman to the Terrill family estate. Burl Ives won Best Supporting Actor for playing Rufus Hannassey, patriarch to the impoverished rival clan. Though too long for it’s own good, “The Big Country” features some striking, widescreen imagery and first-rate performances.
Written for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Branagh, Julie Christie, Billy Crystal, Gerard Depardieu, Derek Jacobi, Jack Lemmon, Rufus Sewell, Robin William, Kate Winslet.
Shakespeare’s classic play about a melancholy Bard has been translated to the screen countless times, but never as faithfully as this 70mm, four hour version with Kenneth Branagh pulling off triple-duty as writer, director, and star. Several celebs stop by to make cameo appearances, including Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams. But the standout is Heston as the Player King (a role that usually get truncated in shorter versions), head of a visiting actors troupe who put on a show that causes King Claudius (Derek Jacobi) to squirm in his seat. Who would’ve guessed this laconic action hero would be so good tearing into Shakespeare?
Directed by Richard Fleischer. Screenplay by Stanley R. Greenberg, based on the novel ‘Make Room! Make Room!’ by Harry Harrison. Starring Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Brock Peters, Edward G. Robinson.
“Soylent Green is people!,” bellows Heston in one of the all-time greatest movie lines. (The AFI ranked it #77 on its list of the 100 greatest quotes.) This adaptation of Harry Harrison’s sci-fi classic imagines a future where overpopulation and greenhouse gases have turned Manhattan into a dystopia. Heston is an NYPD detective investigating the murder of a CEO bigwig who soon discovers a horrific secret about a governmental form of food. This was the last onscreen appearance of Edward G. Robinson, who plays Heston’s mentor. Here’s hoping the year 2022 — in which the story takes place — turns out better than this film suggests.
Directed by Anthony Mann. Screenplay by Philip Yordan, Fredric M. Frank, Ben Barzman, story by Frank. Starring Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, Genevieve Page, John Fraser, Gary Raymond, Herbert Lom, Douglas Wilmer.
Admittedly, it’s a tad bizarre to see Heston wearing dark makeup to play fabled Spanish warrior Rodrigo Diaz (a.k.a El Cid). Yet that does little to diminish Anthony Mann’s entertaining and intelligent saga, which follows El Cid as he overcomes family and political turmoil to lead the Christian nation in their fight against the Moors. Largely dismissed in its time, the film has since gained notoriety amongst cineastes, including Martin Scorsese, who assisted in its restoration and re-release in 1993. Miklos Rozsa’s Oscar-nominated, soaring score is a standout.
Directed by Sam Peckinpah. Screenplay by Harry Julian Fink, Oscar Saul, and Peckinpah, story by Fink. Starring Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, James Coburn, Michael Anderson Jr., Mario Adorf, Brock Peters, Senta Berger.
Following a troubled production, Sam Peckinpah’s “Major Dundee” was sliced and diced on its way to movie screens, and the results were disastrous. Thankfully, a restored 2005 director’s cut helps clear up some plot holes and deepens character motivations. Set in Mexico in 1864, the film stars Heston as a determined Union officer hunting down a murderous gang of Apaches. Richard Harris costars as Captain Ben Tyreen, a Confederate adversary who assists Dundee in his mission, providing him with fellow Gentlemen of the South. Bloody and bombastic, with scenery-chewing performances from Heston, Harris, and James Coburn as a one-armed scout, this is Peckinpah at his best.
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse L. Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss, Fredric M. Frank, based on ‘Prince of Egypt’ by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, ‘Pillar of Fire’ by J.H. Ingraham, ‘On Eagle’s Wings’ by A.E. Southon, and the Book of Exodus. Starring Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, and John Derek.
Of all the biblical epics Cecil B. DeMille brought to the screen, none is more entertaining than this overblown, extravagant, and hokey retelling of the life of Moses (Charlton Heston), his second adaptation of this story (the first was a silent version in 1923). It follows Moses from the time he was discovered as an abandoned infant in the bullrushes to his struggles to save the Jews from their enslavement in Egypt. Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and Edward G. Robinson ham it up as Rameses, Nefretiri and Dathan, respectively. While subtly was never DeMille’s strong suit, spectacle was, and that’s on full display with the parting of the Red Sea and the writing of the stone tablets (the film won an Academy Award for its visual effects). The film has become a holiday classic thanks to multiple showings on Easter. Though Heston competed at the Golden Globes, he was snubbed at the Oscars.
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, based on the novel by Pierre Boulle. Starring Roddy McDowall, Maurice Evans, Kim Hunter, James Whitmore, James Daly, Linda Harrison.
Heston kicked off the lucrative “Planet of the Apes” franchise with this stellar sci-fi adventure. He plays an astronaut in the near-future who crash-lands on a distant orb where primates have enslaved humans. But he soon discovers — in one of the most shocking twists in movie history — that this rock is actually our own! Director Franklin J. Schaffner manages to keep things both thrilling and silly, with some much-needed tongue-in-cheek humor. The stunning makeup (which brought a special achievement Oscar to John Cambers) makes monkeys out of Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, and James Whitmore. Heston returned for the sequel, “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” as well as Tim Burton’s remake, in which he plays an ape.
Written for the screen and directed by Orson Welles, based on the novel ‘Badge of Evil’ by Whit Masterson. Starring Janet Leigh, Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor.
As was the case in “El Cid,” “Touch of Evil” finds Heston donning dark makeup to play someone of a different race, this time a Mexican-born police detective investigating a tangled web of kidnapping, murder and corruption. All dubiousness in casting aside, this is a film noir masterpiece filled with striking visuals and bravura performances. To describe the labyrinthine plot would prove an exercise in futility. Let’s just sum it up by saying Heston goes toe-to-toe with a dishonest cop (writer-director Orson Welles) in a sleazy border town, with his wife (Janet Leigh) entrapped by a perverted biker gang. The film’s opening tracking shot — which follows a bomb from the hands of a criminal through the streets of Mexico in an unsuspecting couple’s vehicle — is justifiably famous.
Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Karl Tunberg, based on the novel ‘Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ’ by General Lew Wallace. Starring Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O’Donnell, Sam Jaffe.
Heston won Best Actor for William Wyler’s rousing historical epic. Set during the time of Christ, it centers on how Jewish prince Ben-Hur (Heston) is sold into slavery by his Roman friend, Messala (Stephan Boyd), only to later return seeking revenge. Though bogged down by some slow, painful dialogue passages, it soars when giving into spectacle, especially in the famous chariot race (directed by Andrew Marton and staged by stuntman Yakima Canutt). Look out for gay subtext (added by ghostwriter Gore Vidal) between Ben-Hur and Messala, which was apparently known to everyone except Heston. The film won 11 Oscar in total, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Hugh Griffith as an Arab Sheik.